Jajarkot’s conflict victims decry the ‘people’s war’

Chanmati Batala, 68, of Bherimalika municipality-1 Kalegaun has been without support in her old age after her only son Deepak Batala was killed during the Maoist insurgency. In 1998, Deepak, then 24, was killed by security personnel because of his ‘involvement’ in the insurgency.

The Maoists had started a ‘people’s war’ 23 years ago on February 13, 1996, ostensibly for the liberation of Nepal and its citizens. Districts in the mid-western hills, including Jajarkot, Rukum, Rolpa and Kalikot, were Maoist strongholds.

At the time, Deepak was a student at Tribhuvan Secondary School and was involved with a student union close to the Maoists. His involvement with the union led to his arrest and killing by security personnel. Chanmati’s husband had passed away by then. Four of her daughters are married. She now lives with a disabled daughter.

Says Chanmati, “Thousands of Nepalis like my son lost their lives at a young age in the name of the Maoist war. The political system changed, but now there is nobody to support us.” She laments that the Maoists did not keep the promises they made during the war. “Politicians got people to kill each other in order to advance their agenda. But what happened? More than war, Nepalis need good governance, development, peace and stability,” she says. “May Nepalis never kill each other like they did back then.”

It’s been more than 12 years since the war ended. It seems like a remote, even fictional, story for the new generation. But for those who endured the atrocities of the war, the pain remains raw.

The Maoists made Congres cadres stand in a line and started hacking them to death

It was around 17 years ago during the conflict that Bhadra Bir Rana, also from Bherimalika municipality, was captured by security personnel. His wife Bali Rana still does not know his whereabouts, but she hasn’t given up hope that he will come back. “The Maoists used to come to our home, eat the food we cooked and take him to their events. That led to his arrest and disappearance,” she says.

Following the capture of the District Police Office in Laha on June 12, 1999, the Maoists made four Nepali Congress cadres stand in a line and started hacking them to death. Ram Bahadur Khatri, a Laha local, was one of the four. He says a chill runs down his spine whenever he remembers the incident.

“I was the last guy in the line. They started the slaughter from the top of the line. I thought I would rather try running away than be killed like that, consequences be damned. I managed to escape, and came to the district headquarters and hid there. I have not been back to the village since,” he recounts.

Rajendra Bikram Shah, a local civic leader, says ordinary citizens were troubled by both sides during the war. “Security personnel used to target them for feeding the Maoists, attending their programs, giving them donations, etc. But if they did not do as the Maoists told them, they feared that the insurgents would harm them.”

“In the decade-long war, many lost their husbands or their parents. Many others were maimed. Youngsters who were involved in the war are severely disappointed,” says Shah. “They joined the war with the hope of improving the country’s socio-economic conditions but their own conditions are now so bleak that they are forced to go to Gulf countries for work.”

Over 370 people from Jajarkot lost their lives during the war and hundreds were displaced or maimed. Dozens of government structures were demolished. Many victims have got neither justice nor compensation.